ABSTRACT
As communities around the world face the adverse effects of climate change – unpredictable weather patterns, extreme precipitation events, and sea level rise – social systems come under considerable stress. Especially in countries where agriculture dominates the economy, livelihood losses push populations that are already vulnerable into even more precarious circumstances. A community of policymakers has presented the social instability that could result from these scenarios as a threat to national security, a view shared by some academics who have also demonstrated correlations between climate change effects and conflict. But many geographers and other social scientists are sceptical of making direct links between weather and violence. Instead, social, political, and economic contexts mediate the risks of instability during times of environmental stress. Furthermore, many are critical of the national security framing of the plight those in the Global South endure, favouring a human security lens instead. Within a broad focus on the geographies of peacebuilding and conflict, this chapter explores these themes and how climate change impacts adaptation.
